The deal with the coalition was supposed to save $69 million in the coming fiscal year. Villaraigosa had promised employees who made a series of concessions — including a 4% reduction in pay and the postponement of three previously negotiated raises — that they would be rewarded with an end to furloughs that the city has used to avoid employee layoffs.

Without concessions from those four groups, and the city facing a $457-million shortfall, Villaraigosa said he would demand eight and a half weeks of unpaid days off from those workers between now and June 2012.

"Employees who failed to ratify the agreement are once again subject to furloughs, and those furloughs start today," he said.